Aran W. Glancy

A Framework for Quality K-12 Engineering Education: Research and Development

AbstractRecent U.S. national documents have laid the foundation for highlighting the connection between science, technology, engineering andmathematics at the K-12 level. However, there is not a clear definition or a well-established tradition of what constitutes a qualityengineering education at the K-12 level. The purpose of the current work has been the development of a framework for describing whatconstitutes a quality K-12 engineering education. The framework presented in this paper is the result of a research project focused onunderstanding and identifying the ways in which teachers and schools implement engineering and engineering design in their classrooms.The development of the key indicators that are included in the framework were determined based on an extensive review of the literature,established criteria for undergraduate and professional organizations, document content analysis of state academic content standards inscience, mathematics, and technology, and in consultation with experts in the fields of engineering and engineering education. Theframework is designed to be used as a tool for evaluating the degree to which academic standards, curricula, and teaching practicesaddress the important components of a quality K-12 engineering education. Additionally, this framework can be used to inform thedevelopment and structure of future K-12 engineering and STEM education standards and initiatives.

Approaches to Integrating Engineering in STEM Units and Student Achievement Gains

This study examined different approaches to integrating engineering practices in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) curriculum units. These various approaches were correlated with student outcomes on engineering assessment items. There are numerous reform documents in the USA and around the world that emphasize the need to incorporate engineering into science education. The authors of this study contend that different approaches to integrating engineering in STEM units correlate to larger student achievement gains in engineering, based on assessment items developed from the Framework for Quality K–12 Engineering Education (Moore, Glancy, Tank, Kersten, & Smith, 2014). The goal of this work is not to establish one singular working definition for how to integrate the disciplines of STEM but rather to focus on characteristics of integrating engineering within STEM curricular units that are associated with higher student achievement gains in engineering for the students involved in this study. The results indicate that when engineering is introduced at the beginning of the unit to provide context for the learning, and revisited throughout the duration of the unit, student achievement gains with engineering assessment items are greater than when engineering is incorporated only at the end of the unit as a design challenge in the form of a culminating project.

Approaches to Teaching Mathematics Through Modeling: Original Text – Chapter 4

This chapter focuses on framing teaching practices that stem from a models and modeling perspective. Drawing on this perspective, we articulate how modeling is grounded in the dual notions that mathematics is learned through modeling and that the iterative process of designing products and processes is an approach to modeling that can be especially productive for students’ learning. We provide empirical evidence from 2 case studies, one from middle grades mathematics and one from post‐secondary engineering that illustrate how six principles of mathematical modeling activities are necessary for good modeling tasks and four effective teaching practices for this approach to modeling.

Herangehensweisen an das Unterrichten von Mathematik durch Modellierung

Dieses Kapitel legt den Schwerpunkt auf Lehreraktivitaten, die aus einer Modellierungsperspektive stammen. Hierauf aufbauend legen wir dar, inwiefern sich Modellieren auf zwei Aspekte bezieht: zum einen dass Mathematik mittels Modellieren gelernt wird und zum anderen dass der schrittweise Prozess des Designs von Produkten und Prozessen ein Zugang zum Modellieren ist, der besonders fruchtbar fur das Lernen der Schulerinnen und Schuler sein kann. Wir stellen empirische Ergebnisse aus zwei Fallstudien dar, eine aus dem Mathematikunterricht der Mittelstufe und eine aus der universitaren Ingenieurausbildung, die illustrieren, wie sechs Prinzipien fur mathematische Modellierungsaktivitaten notwendig sind fur gute Modellierungsaufgaben, und wir stellen vier effektive Lehrpraktiken fur diesen Zugang zum Modellieren dar.

Teachers’ Incorporation of Argumentation to Support Engineering Learning in STEM Integration Curricula

One of the fundamental practices identified in Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) is argumentation, which has been researched in P-12 science education for the previous two decades but has yet to be studied within the context of P-12 engineering education. This research explores how elementary and middle school science teachers incorporated argumentation into engineering designbased STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) integration curricular units they developed during a professional development program. To gain a better understanding of how teachers included argumentation in their curricula, a multiple case study approach was conducted using four STEM integration units. While evidence of argumentation was found in each curriculum, the degree to which it appeared in each case varied. The strongest potential for argumentation occurred when students were required to explain and justify their final engineering design solutions to the client; certain guiding questions and discussions also promoted argumentation, depending on their structure. Additionally, argumentation was found to support engineering concepts such as the process of design, engineering thinking, communication in engineering contexts, and the application of science, mathematics, and engineering content. These findings support the idea that argumentation can be integrated into P-12 engineering education contexts in order to support students’ STEM learning.